For his birthday Mr A had received a voucher for a night at a small B&B in the Gesäuse region, a national park in Styria. My Dad has stayed at the B&B numerous times and had asked the owners if they were willing to provide us with food during our stay. They agreed asking we call them a few days in advance so I could discuss my special request with the chef.
When I called the woman of the house/ chef asked a few basic questions about our breakfast and dinner habits, then self-assuredly declared that she would make us something. Usually, this would make me feel uneasy but she sounded so convinced that I didn’t have a doubt in the world we would get amply fed.
And we did!
Our room at the B&B was beautiful – small but with everything one could ask for – and we were eager to explore the vicinity.
Unfortunately, in the morning we woke up to a grey sky laden with rain clouds. A long hike was out of the question so we decided on Dr.-Vogelgesang-Klamm. A klamm is a path next to and across a river and waterfall, because there it’s usually wet regardless of the weather. On the way there, and because the forecast was more promising for the afternoon, we stopped at Stift Admont (Admont Abbey) to visit the famous library. How glad we were that we did! The library turned out to be stunning, not only due to its sheer size but also because it has been so lovingly restored.
In the adjacent rooms there were heaps of stuffed animals (yikes) and an exhibition on food that turned out rather interesting (and a lot more progressive than I would have thought possible in this area – like, they had a whole room on vegan food and nothing negative about it).
Finally, the rain cleared and we went for the klamm which was very much worth our time.
The next morning the sun was shining brightly, the mist rising from the dewy meadows. We found a hike that was possible to complete from our doorstep and decided to give it a go. From the other side of the road we followed the river for a bit, then turned left and up the hill towards Mödlinger Hütte.
We had a break there, listening to the live jazz band (?) performing on this beautiful Sunday morning, before heading on towards Spielkogel. For almost an hour we could hear the music as a subtle background noise.
From there, it was all down and out – down then mountain, then following the path back out to our B&B, our car and the road back to Vienna.
